Method and means for applying iodin and iodin compounds.



UNITED STATES PA.

OFFICE.

GEORGE B. PEGRAM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

METHOD AN D MEANS FOR APPLYING IODIN AND IODIN COMPOUNDS.

Ito Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE B. PEGRAM,

a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Methods and Means for Applying Iodin and Iodin Compounds, of which the following is a specification.

The principal object of my. invention is to provide a new and improved method to facilitate the use of iodin and of certain iodin compounds for antiseptic and germicidal purposes. Another object if my invent1on 1s to provide suitable means to be employed 1n such a method. Another object of my invention is to provide a method and a means by which iodin or its compounds may be employed for various external applicat ons, such as for cuts, wounds, abrasions, inclsions, sterilizing healthy skin, as a surgical dressing, for stimulating tissues and to favor rapid healing by the killing of bacteria. Still another object of my invention is to provide a composition of matter, in convenient form to facilitate the treatment of living animal tissue according to this method. All these objects and others will more readily become apparent after consideration of the disclosure in the following specification.

As a result of extended investigation, I have discovered how certain compositions of iodin and hexamethylenetetramin and particularly the tetraiodo-hexamethylenetetramin can be brought into solution in water and other solvents so that they can be used readily for external application to living body tissue for antiseptlc and germicldal purposes.

As an example of procedure under and according to my invention, 1 take any suitable quantity of the tetraiodo-hexamethylenetetramin and mix 1t u with three to seven times as much potassium 10d1d. The

resulting mixture may be kept indefinitely .tassium iodid acts as a solubility increaser,

so that the solution has a very considerable proportion of the tetraiodo-hexamethylenetetramin actually dissolved therein.

The solution for antiseptic and germicidal Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 5, 1918.

use can if preferred be made by first dissolving the potassium iodid or other solubility increaser in Water or other solvent and thereafter adding the tetraiodo-hexamethylene tetramin. I mention the tablets largely by way of an example of a practical procedure for realizing the advantages of my invent1on.

Other salts than potassium iodid may be added advantageously. I have investigated a number of these and I find that the solubility of the tetraiodo-hexamethylenetetramm is increased in some degree by the addition of any of the halids of any of the socalled alkali metals, and in this connection ammonium may be regarded as belonging to the group of alkali metals. It is not alone in water as a solvent that the increased solubility of the iodin compound of hexamethylenetetramin is efi'ected, but increased solubility in other solvents such as alcohol or acetone is also obtained.

Under some circumstances it is of advantage to add to the solution a small quantity of sodium chlorid, enough so that supplementing the potassium iodid it will make a physiological normal salt solution, that is, a solution of such concentration that there will be an approximate balance of osmotic pressure across a body membrane between the solution on one side and the body fluids on the other. This common salt can be added as an ingredient of the tablets if desired, or it can be added to the solution at any stage like the other ingredients.

It may be that the solution of the tetraiodo-hexamethylentetramin in water or other solvent contains a certain definite small proportion of dissociated iodin which acts as an antiseptic and a germicide and in so far as it is absorbed in such action, the compound frees an additional amount of the iodin to maintain the degree'of concentration. Also it may be inferred that the decomposition of the tetraiodo hexamethylenetetramin gives iodin and hexamethylenetetramin and that thereupon the mole cules of the latter combine with a certain number of molecules of water and break down to form ammonia and formaldehyde and the well known antiseptic action of the latter is secured thereby. My preparations exert a very beneficial and antiseptic and germicidal action stimulating the tissues and promoting healing which action is due partially at least though not necessarily Wholly to the liberation of iodin and the probable liberation of formaldehyde.

While my invention may be pralctised With other iodin compounds of hexamethylenetetramin than the tetraiodin compound, it is a fact that up to the present time I have had the most success with this compound and have found it the most satisfactory.-

It has long been known that tincture of iodin has valuable antiseptic properties, but when used in this form, it is more or less irritating, especially if'applied on mucous membranes. In the form in which iodin is used according to my invention, it does not have the irritating effect, it has a very powerful bactericidal action, so that its effect is superior to that of mercury bichlorid, phenol, etc., and it has all the advantages without the disadvantages of the use of iodin as used heretofore in the tincture form. It is.comparatively harmless and the dangers due to improper use are not nearly as great as those that attend the antiseptics hereto fore used, such as those above mentioned.

I claim:

1. The method of bringing tetra-iodohexamethylenetetramin into solution which consists in dissolving potassium iodid in the solvent and thereby facilitating the solution of the tetra-iodo-hexamethylenetetramin.

2. The method of bringing an addition compound of iodin and hexamethylenetetramin into solution which consists in dissolving an alkali metal halid in the solvent and thereby facilitating the solution of the said compound.

3. In the method of preparing an addition compound of iodin and hexamethylenetetramin as a sterilizing agent, the step Which consists in bringing it into solution by adding an alkali metal halid to the solvent along with the said compound.

4. As a composition of matter, a dry tab let comprising tetra-iodo-hexamethylenetetramin and potassium iodid mixed therewith.

5. As a composition of matter, a dry tablet comp-rising tetra-iodo-hexamethylenetet- ,ramin and three to seven times as much 

